DUBAI (Reuters) - Shuaa Capital SHUA.DU, the UAE's largest investment bank by market value, might not reach its 20 percent return on equity target for 2006/07, its Chief Executive Iyad Duwaji said on Tuesday.
"We might fall short of that target," Duwaji told the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit, adding that he views the stock as undervalued.
Shuaa, which has been hit hard by a regional stock market crash, spent 13.47 million UAE dirhams ($3.7 million) to buy back 3 million of its shares at 4.49 dirhams each earlier in March.
This triggered a share price jump of nearly 11 percent.
Duwaji declined to say whether the buy back would continue, but added it could spend excess cash on buy backs if it did not find other opportunities.
Asked whether the stock was fundamentally undervalued, Duwaji said: "Yes."
On March 14, Shuaa Capital said it had bought back 3 million of its own stock, equivalent to the 5.5 percent of the 55 million shares which Shuaa has approval to buy back.
There are 550 million shares outstanding.
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